Abu Wabu

In "Path to Victory: Refashioning Institutions For The Challenges Of The 21st Century," Donald Rumsfeld recounts a chance interview that perfectly illustrates the difference between worlds:

I remember being in South Korea a few years ago, and looking out over the lights of the city of Seoul at night. A young journalist walked up to me with a microphone. She said, “The South Korean parliament is currently debating whether to send South Korean troops to Iraq. Why in the world should young Korean people go halfway around the world to fight and possibly die?”

South Korea has the same people and resources as North Korea. Yet today South Korea is one of the most successful economies on the face of the earth. It is a success because of its free people and free economic system. And so I told the journalist, “Why should young Americans have come to South Korea, halfway around the world, to fight and potentially die fifty years ago? The answer is that you only need to look out the window.”